


Distance

by aggiepuff



Series: Soulmate Singles [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe- Red String, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:21:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25938067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aggiepuff/pseuds/aggiepuff
Summary: Everyone has a Red String. Hers is tied to her left pinky finger and has always led north, so, she does what people have down for a thousand years: she follows it.
Relationships: Robb Stark/Rhaenys Targaryen (Daughter of Elia)
Series: Soulmate Singles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1882498
Comments: 9
Kudos: 48





	Distance

Rhaenys runs her thumb absently on her red string. Like everyone else's, it's looped around her pinky finger and today it seems especially thin. Her Soulmate must be far away.

She noticed it gets thinner the further south she goes. She checked a compass once and her string disappears into the aether heading almost due north. It's why she took the teaching job in Wintertown. 

"You sure you wanna do this?" Aegon asks. At twenty-one, her baby brother is taller than her by four inches, with white-blond hair and Mamá's copper skin.

"It won't be so bad," Rhaenys answers, to assure herself or him she's not sure. "Jon and Ygritte will be there. It'll be fun!"

Aegon smiles at the mention of their half-brother but sadness darkens his purple eyes. "You're both leaving me."

"Eggy," Rhaenys sighs, "we're not leaving you. You v-chat Jon all the time. This'll be just like that."

Aegon sighs. "Fiiiine."

She grins. "Come on, give me a hug."

He grumbles and rolls his eyes but his arms come up and wrap around her, engulfing her in the scent of his cologne. When she pulls away, he tousles her hair and she swats his hand away. "Quit that!"

"Whatever you say, shrimp."

Rhaenys groans. "Whatever, you stupid giant."

The Sunspear Airport is mostly empty so Rhaenys breezes through security, plugging in her headphones and pulling up her Comedians playlist. The flight itself is uneventful and Rhaenys stays tucked into her seat at the very back, watching Westeros pass far below in a faded patchwork.

It's a four hour flight and she's happy to disembark and stretch her legs. As she slings her backpack over her shoulder her thumb finds her string again. It's thicker. She stops, staring.

It’s almost as thick as her pinky nail is wide. _Holy fuck_.

She wavers. The responsible thing is to head towards baggage claim and rent a car. She’s in White Harbor and Wintertown, where she’ll be teaching, is another three hours by car. Jon and Ygritte are expecting her. But her thread…

Rhaenys bites her lip. She’s always responsible. The oldest sister. The advice giver. The family problem solver. The one everyone goes to for help. 

But she’s in The North now, completely alone. Rhaenys glances around the White Harbor Airport. It’s small, only six terminals. Only a handful of the chairs are occupied and there are maybe five security guards in the whole place. 

She holds up her hand, staring at her string. It’s the thickest she’s ever seen and…

Rhaenys takes a deep breath. One step in front of the other. 

She follows her string.

* * *

Robb Stark sighs, scuffing the toe of his boot on the airport's tile floor. _Fucking Jon_.

He loves his cousin, he really does, but it fucking sucks owing Jon a favor. The man always collects and today he's supposed to pick up his cousin's half-sibling, though whether it's the sister or brother he has no clue. Whoever it is they're coming in from Dorne.

Robb still thinks it's weird how Jon connected with them over ten years ago. He always knew Jon didn't have a dad then, during a genealogy project for school, his cousin submitted a DNA sample to some lab and they sent back saying he had half siblings in Dorne. That was when Robb learned the phrase "sperm bank." 

After some emails between Aunt Lyanna and a woman named Elia Martell, she and Jon visited Dorne. Jon came back with all kinds of stories and two new best friends. Still, Robb has never actually seen either of them besides the pictures Jon's showed him. So, Robb holds a sign, "Jon's Dornish Sibling" hastily scrawled across the cardboard, standing in the middle of the White Harbor Airport after a boring three hour drive.

By the old gods he wishes whichever sibling is coming would get here already.

Finally, the baggage claim sign informs him that the 10:30AM flight from Dorne has arrived. People spill from the terminal and he stands a little straighter, thumb going to rub his string, a nervous habit he picked up as a kid.

He peers at the crowd - then, he stops.

Slowly, he raises his hand to eye level, staring at his string. How could he have not noticed before?

The Red String of Fate wrapped around his left pinky is bright against his pale skin, visible only to him and whoever is on the other end, and, for the first time, thick rather than the thin strand he knows

He stares, unable to take his eyes away. 

The woman - at least, he hopes they're a woman since after his college experimentation he figured out he's definitely straight - is close. 

His head jerks back up, now peering frantically at the crowd, trying to follow his string to the other end.

The crowd bustles, people coming and going, crowding around the baggage carousel. A little girl runs past him, calling for her mother. A man in a business suit doges around a clump of teenagers, pulling a no-nonsense black suitcase. 

The crowd parts and a young woman slips between two families, backpack over her shoulder, long dark hair pulled back in a simple braid. Her dark eyes find him, holding his sign, and her jaw drops. 

Robb’s stomach turns over.

The end of his red string wraps around her pinky.

* * *

Anxiety tightens Rhaenys’ chest as she follows her string. She barely glances at the signs above her head informing her she's headed to baggage claim. 

She almost stops at the top of the stairs, a sudden certainty enveloping her. At the bottom of these stairs is something new and exciting and life-changing. Butterflies swoop in her stomach.

SHe tugs the straps of her backpack, suddenly self-conscious. She hadn’t worn makeup for the flight. Her hair is in the messiest of braids (she’s not even sure if she brushed her hair this morning). She’s wearing a ratty, loose pair of jeans splattered with neon pink paint from when Arianne was feeling crafty and she’s pretty sure there’s a coffee stain somewhere on her Sunspear Football Club t-shirt. 

_Well, at least whoever they are will know what they’re getting into right away._

Rhaenys takes a deep breath and descends the stairs. 

Unfortunately, it seems the majority of the people in the small White Harbor Airport have crowded into the baggage claim area. Men, women and children block her view, her string disappearing amidst the crush of bodies. 

Rhaenys twirls her hand, wrapping her red string around her palm. It’s solidly warm against her skin, tangible only to her, and she keeps wrapping it around her hand as she pulls herself along, until, finally, she pops free of the crowd and there’s a man standing across the room, her string a red arrow pointing directly at him.

He’s beautiful. Dark red hair, bright blue eyes, moon pale skin. Taller than her and dressed in jeans, boots, and a thick coat. In his hand he holds...a sign?

Her eyes flick down to the thick black words written in blocky script: Jon's Dornish Sibling.

_Oh._ She recognizes him from the pictures Jon showed her. Robb Stark. Jon’s cousin but they’re basically brothers. She’s never met him but all the stories Jon tells are good.

Suddenly, a grin splits her face and a surge of confidence sends her striding across the baggage claim area and stopping right in front of him. “I think you’re looking for me?”

Robb’s smile is slow, spreading across his face and warming his eyes. “Yeah,” he says, “I think I am.”


End file.
